Sweet Briar College hopes to use a $563,500 grant to increase the number of women who study engineering.
The National Science Foundation grant will provide $490,000 in scholarships to future engineering students at the school, the college announced Monday. The remaining money will go toward recruiting and retaining engineering students.
“We’re very excited,” said Hank Yochum, director of the engineering program at SBC, which in its fourth year has about 25 students. “We are always hoping to grow. And we certainly see this new grant being a vehicle to that growth.”
In fall 2010, the grant will provide seven qualified students with a four-year scholarship of $10,000 per year. Seven more students will receive the scholarship in fall 2011. Since the grant only covers the first three years for the second class of students, Yochum said, Sweet Briar plans to provide an additional $70,000 in scholarship money so that the scholarship will stretch all four years.
Scholarship recipients also will receive funding to attend a national engineering conference.
“It’ll be a way for those students to go and really see the broader engineering community, so they’ll be more likely to stay in the field,” Yochum said.
Students who enroll in the program receive a degree in engineering science, which Yochum said is a multi-disciplinary approach similar to mechanical engineering and also includes a focus in electrical engineering.
The curriculum emphasizes experiential learning, design as a fundamental element of engineering and creating solutions to human problems in a global context.
The National Science Foundation grant also partially funds several engineering recruitment activities the school is planning. This Friday and Saturday, for example, the college plans to host an event for high school juniors and seniors in which participants tour the college’s facilities, talk with students, stay overnight in the dorms and work on engineering design projects.
The college also plans to host a longer version of the event for college credit from July 19-24.
“It’s a nice way to have a real, substantial visit to the college,” Yochum said.
if you’re going
What: Sweet Briar’s Explore Engineering — tour the college’s facilities, talk with students, stay overnight in the dorms and work on engineering design projects.
Who: High school girls in their junior or senior year
When: Friday, starting about 6 p.m., until Saturday at about 2 p.m.
Deadline: Sign up by this Thursday, or contact the school to learn about other related upcoming events
Info: For more information, visit www.engineering.sbc.edu or contact Yochum at hyochum@sbc.edu or (434) 381-6357.
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